My depressing DSM story

[Crawl]

Jan 2005 - Purchase 1995 Eclipse GSX with 114k
Feb 2005 belts snap, turns out to be crank pulley, replace it with underdrive pulley
From Then on the car has YET to stop breaking. The car started knocking about a month ago and I call some local shops to get estimates on rebuild, cheapest quote i found after taking engine out and such was about 2200. I found a "NICE" guy on the dsm classifieds selling a JDM Motor with 30k on it and purchased it from this guy. 950$ after shipping. Decent deal.... if it was real. After many many days of painful processing the engine shows up in Maine an hour and a half from where I live and I have to go get it. I pick up the engine bring it to the shop whom im having install it (did i mention i had to borrow all this money from my parents.... ) They take off the Oil pan to find shavings in the pan, the crank moves BY HAND, and it definitely has more than 30k on it. Now lets back up a bit

Just before this I saw a guy on the dsmtuners.com classifieds selling a freshly rebuilt port and polished head. He claimed it had brand new valve train etc... The head comes, it was packaged with packing peanuts..... Ok you can just imagine what thats gotta look like

So finally I get done cleaning out all the peanuts to see that it is only partially ported, Does not have a full new valve train, and that it has been blown and then rewelded with a healey coil..... So yeah thats no good to

Ok back to status, The guy with the head is not responding, and I just found out about the engine today so I am waiting to hear back from the guy who sold me the engine. I have a loan on this GSX for 5500, plus the money I had to borrow from my parents, plus All the money I have invested since I got the car, and the car is no where close to running because People insist on F****ing me.

So guys, when you are considering ripping someone else off, remember this is a fellow DSM'er, Who most likely isnt rich, who cant afford to be ripped off. The 2 people not mentioned have cost me apprx 1700$ after all things taken into affect, and i wont count the fact that I dont have a damn car and cant get anywhere or to work etc... I am an average hard working 23 year old with a steady job and alot of bills. I am far from rich and You have totaly screwed me, Thank you

I am waiting 2 days to hear back from both persons, If i have not recieved a Full refund by then the company lawyer will be contacting both of these people, as they were kind enough to give me there cell phone numbers, home address's, and the mechanic can gladly testify the condition in which these parts where recieved. Seeing how I have nothing to lose and It wont cost me a penny , Expect to hear from me

 

[ddavisaf]

1.who are they?(so i dont buy anything from them) and 2.where are they from?(if they live near me ill see what i can "borrow" from them). i hate people like that. it really ticks me off. id just like to be around when it all comes back on them to see that look on the faces of the people who thought they got away with something is the best. times like this call for a good swift kick in the jewels good luck with everything i really hope they get what they brought on themselves. btw your boss got some extra money to toss this way DSMer with low income over here 2 j/k

I'm sure you were joking around... but still. Two wrongs don't make a right.
He's doing the right thing by following with legal action...
Times like these can be extremely frustrating. But it's good to see you've got a good head on your Crawl and that you're doing the right thing for you and all of us. I'm confident everything will work out for you. People like you deserve for everything to work out. Thank you from me and all DSM'ers for doing the right thing.

 

[Crawl]

thanks man, Doing my best, hopefully Ill be rollin again by mid july

 

[siceclipse]

Make sure you give those two guys negative feedback on their buyer/seller rating. And when it asks in the comment box type in "No good f*cking theif!"

 

[Crawl]

Found a cheap 6 bolt im looking into buying, guy will warranty it do work on install, let ya know

 

[onegee]

Sorry to hear about all the troubles and getting scammed.

A word of advice : STOP cheaping out and do it the right way. The reason you got screwed is you trusted used parts and although not entirely your fault, I would never buy a used motor or head unless I knew the person quite well. I take it to the extremes when dealing w/ private party sellers about getting info from them. Read their post history, sign up date, and double check their references. I was going to buy a rather important part from a guy on here, but after seeing the way he handled business, I went and bought one from a trusted source.

For important things like motors, cylinder heads, turbos, and the like, if I dont 100% trust the person or he doesnt have excellent references, I'd rather buy from a vendor.

If your boss is lending you money, buy an already built shortblock or longblock from a DSM vendor, that way you know (or hope) it was built right. Buying used parts is always a gamble unless you know the person who had them. It might be more expensive upfront, but think of how much more money you'll spend if the "good deal" you find goes sour again?

Just looking out for your best interest man, paying money twice for the same part is a b1tch, but paying THREE times for the same defective part would suck even worse.

-R

 

[Goodguy162000]

Hey, I know it's a long shot, but do any of these sellers live in or around Utah? Like any bordering state. I'd like to, uh, sit down and have a talk with them... IM me if they do please.

 

[Crawl]

I guess you missed the part where I explained I dont have alot of money. If i had 3k+ for a built block, I wouldve gotten one . My options were rebuild a block thats probably just going to die again for around 1800 or what i thougth was a good option, buy an engine that was SUPPOSED to only have 30~k on it. DO i agree on not trusting online sellers, sure do now. But I still cant afford a built block, My boss is lending me money, but the less I have to borrow from him the better off I am. My focus is to get my car up and running, not to have a crazy engine. Not to mention I now have 2 CW'ed engines in my posession .

 

[Crawl]

Got a great deal on a brand new engine, .02 over, 3g lifters all that good stuff, 60k warranty and Its going to be installed within the next 2 weeks if all goes well I could be back on the road by end of July, I might get to drive my car this summer WOOHOO!

 

[cmptrphreak]

I blew my motor too man during this summer. (MY girlfriend drives me everywhere in hers mom ford taurus) Ive already put 800 into the engine rebuild its coming out to 3k for a fully built motor. Im 16 make 400 bucks a week , just order 1,500 in parts using a friends credit card, and bam I get hit with the stomach flu 1 week of no work = no money. I want to drive my car so bad that I borrow my brother 97 gst to atleast drive a stick (Hate his car cuz its fwd and everybody thinks im him, we look like twins except for the 4 year age difference) hope u get everything straightened out . sry for my long speech but Im feeling sry for myself while im sitting in my boxers in my room. hehe

 

[Crawl]

*nods* Pain of the young/Poor dsmers

 

[jkrause]

you have just as much luck as i do. i bought my car in illinois and an hour and a half later a car in front of me hit a 2 x 4 and threw it under my car knocking my oil return hose loose...........................no hose=no motor=no car for a month and a half

but insurance covered all $7200 dollars in damage. got new 4g63, new 16g, internals, plus everything else i had in it.

 

[GSEclipse06]

and i thoguht my story was bad. bought my dsm and a few days later had a look at it in my vo-tech shop...needed new front pads (not bad), two new outer tie rod ends (i was a bit ticked about that) and a new drive axle (that really pissed me off.) paid $1500 for the car and then shell out another $200 as soon as i buy it...boom there goes my refund check i just got. a month later went for inspection...an additional $260 to replace the exhaust (including labor) and when it went back after getting that replaced it req'd a ball joint...another $270 (includes labor and inspection costs). i wans't too happy, but atleast mine runs. sorry about you shitty luck.

 

[fn8uup]

i really hope you get it all sorted out because to me there isnt anything worse than downtime especially when its someone elses fault

 

[Kenx007]

Man that really sucks. I hope you the best of luck.

 

[huafist]

Let us know how the legal action works out. Scammers have a special place in hell, almost as far down as rapists and child abusers.

 

[Patterson]

those people are trash and will always be trash. nothing more.
- I hope everything works out for you.

 

[speedy13]

definatly need to send em negative feedback,and refer them tothis thread for details.Sur wish you could tell us so nobody else gets scammed.

 

[tstkl]

im just waiting for the idiots to try and defend themself in this thread, because then well know who they are... btw i respect that your giving them a chance to refund you before you give them negative feedback and stuff.....stop asking for their names because he probably wont tell us until he talks with them and knows that the intentionally shafted him

 

[Lsmith]

Dang man. I really hope you can bust this scammers balls!

 

[Crawl]

Well Im actually just not giving their names because I would like to keep the thread around and I know if I posted info like that a moderator would close this post in 3 secs flat


But I am fully going after both of them as well as working on getting a new motor from overbore.com , Mark has been really helpful and I should have a new engine by the end of the month.

I gave both of them a chance to refund, i was perfectly honest and kind when I sent my first email to both of them letting them know the things they had sent me where bad etc.. but neither took that chance. The guy whom I purchased the engine from spent all of the money and is a younger guy with no money, SO I believe we have worked out a deal. I sent him the contract and if he sends it back signed then we are done and he will be making me payments to pay it back.

The other guy I am taking action through paypal and Im 99% paypal is going to have my money for me shortly. They have already contacted him and myself and are working things out. At the very least they will suspend his paypal account and put a -340 balance on it so that he can hopefully not screw anyone else over.

Thank you all for being support and understanding it means alot to be able to come here and see what others have to say and think. its been hard without a car and dealing with all of this with very limited funds.

Ill let you all know what happens next

 

[Crawl]

p.s. I believe that the guy I purchased the engine from did make an honest mistake, it seems to me he was just another young guy who bought a used JDM from ebay and got screwed. Weather he knew that or not before pawning it off on me is questionable, but he seems honest enough. I certainly am not sticking up for him, but rather entertaining the possibility that he really did just get screwed and did not know.

 

[Crawl]

Paypal found in my favor however didnt get any money form him, AKA they suspended his account so if he ever wants to use paypal to scam again he will have to pay me.


Going tommorrow to pick up my new engine , should be about 2 weeks and Ill have my car back, woohoo!

 

[olmytsi]

Congrats and beware of people selling stuff. Stick to a local dsm board where people know each other and you can get feedback on people before buying stuff from them.

 

[Crawl]

*nod* oh believe me lesson learned


Picked up the new engine from Mark, thing is beautiful, ordered new oil cooler, crank and cam sensors, install should start thursday with all my beautiful new parts hoping tohave the car back end of next week or beginning of the week after.

Also picking up an Extreme tech. lvl 1 16g with install kit for cheap that Im going to slap on her if she stays running solid for a good 750-1k to let me know she deserves it haha

so after about 13-4k total invested now in about 2 weeks give or take I will have a fully working GSX with a handful of mods, and hopefully by end of August Ill have the 16g running at minimum of 15psi. not sure where that will put me but Im going to have it dynoed probably beginning of September so I can see where I will be at.

 

[dr1ftx3]

Hey, hows everything running? Did you get the car up and goin?